Method of treating strands



J m 1951 A. c. NYSTROM 2,536,208

METHOD OF TREATING STRANDS Filed Dec. 22. 1942 ll l l A.C. STROM ATTOR/ Patented Jan. 2, 1951 Axel C. Nystrom,

York, N. Y., a.

Rutherford, N. J., Western Electric Company,

assignor to Incorporated, New

corporation of New York Application December 22, 1942, Serial No. 469,826

Claims.

This invention relates to a method of and apparatus for treating strands, and more particularly to a method of and apparatus for cleaning wire.

In drawing wire, use is ordinarily made of socalled "drawing compound, a liquid usually applied liberally on the wire entering a drawing die to be reduced in diameter by passing through the die. The liquid serves both as a lubricant for the intense friction of the wire passing through the die and as a cooling agent to carry away, especially from the die and its mount, the heat generated in the drawing process. Hence such drawing compounds are frequently emul-' sions of some suitable greasy or oily lubricant in water. The wire emerging from the die bathed in such a fluid carries on its surface greasy material from the compound and a certain amount of. closely adherent, finely divided metal in flaky form. The wire thus coated must be thoroughly cleansed, in most instances, before being made use of or before being passed through another die for further reduction.

An object of the present invention is to provide a simple and reliable method of and apparatus for treating a strand.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention may be embodied as a method of cleaning wire in a process comprising steps of advancing a wire longitudinally of itself, subjecting the advancing wire to a blast of air moving longitudinally along the same in a direction contrary to the advancing motion thereof, the air of the blast being charged with a cleansing liquid dispersed therein, and then subjecting the advancing wire to a similarly moving blast of dry air. Similarly, the invention may be embodied as an apparatus in a housing having a passageway therethrough to receive axially thereof a longitudinally advancing wire, the said passageway comprising an elongated chamber narrowing in the direction of motion of the wire and a second elongated cham-v ber opening therefrom and widening in the same direction, and an injector nozzle positioned axially in the second chamber and having the wire passing axially therethrough.

2 longitudinal cross-section of an apparatus for cleaning copper wire.

The particular device herein disclosed comprises an externally cylindrical body 20. In the left, or front, half of the bodyis a conical cleansing chamber 2|, narrowing toward the right, and communicating through a small orifice 22 with a short, conical chamber 23 which widens toward the right. The chamber 23 communicates with or merges into a cylindrical bore 24 which extends to the right hand end of the body in;

A vertically disposed support 25 abuts against the left end of the body 20 and is secured thereto by suitable means (not shown). A bore 26 in the support 25 coaxial with the chamber 2| contains and supports a plug 2! having a narrow coaxial bore 28. Between the plug 21 and the chamber 2|, the support 25 is formed with a chamber 23. The upper part of the chamber 29 is, in effect, an enlarged extension to the left of the chamber'2l. The lower part is formed to extend down below the outer surface of the body 20 to provide free communication between the left end of the chamber 2| and the open air under the body 20.

A second vertically disposed support 30 abuts against the right end of the body 20 and is secured thereto by suitable means (not shown). A conical bore 3| in the upper end of the support 30 is coaxial with and, in effect, a continuation of the bore 24.

An injector body 32 is positioned in the chamber 23, bore 24 and bore 3| as shown. The body Other objects and features of the invention will appear from the following detailed description of an embodiment thereof in an apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention and adapted to carry out the method of the invention taken-in connection with the accompanying drawing, the single figure of which is a diagrammatic presentation in vertical central 32 has an axial bore therethrough of which the frorit part 33 is wider than the rear part 34. Between these parts the bore 33, 34 communicates with the bore 35 of a compressed air supply pipe 36 having an air supply control valve 31 and connected to a source of compressed air (not shown).

Between the conically tapered nose 33 of the injector body and the conically tapered wall of the chamber 23, is an annular conical space serving as a suction chamber for the injector. A suction tube 39 pendent from and supported by the body 20 communicates with the suction chamber.

All the parts shown and described above are made, in this instance. of suitable acid resistant material, preferably ebonite, but which may be porcelain, glass, platinum, or the like. This is because the particular apparatus is especially adapted for cleaning copper wire with a sixteen per cent (16%) by weight water solution of hydrochloric acid gas to remove drawing compound v 3 and the scale dust produced by drawing. If other cleaning liquids are used, perhaps on other kinds of strand, the parts of the device will be amazes made of material suitable to the particular use.

Thus if grease only is-to be removed by means of a water solution of an alkaline agent such as ammonia, the parts might well be made of stainless steel or'of glass or porcelain, or of suitable metal plated with nickel or chromium.

In any case, it is preferable that certain of the bores be dimensioned to have certain relations to the diameter of the particular strand to be treated. Assuming the diameter of the strand to be d, the bore 28 should be only enough larger than (7. to allow the strand to' pass freely through the bore while still small enough to check any substantial escape of air, say preferably from about 511/4 to about 2d in diameter. The bore 33 must be enough wider than the strand to permit of the passage of a considerable volume of air past the strand in the bore while still compelling the air to move swiftly over the surface of the strand, say from about 212 to about 6d. The bore 34 should have about the same diameter as the bore 28. The constriction aperture 22 between the chambers 2| and 23 should preferably be about twice the diameter of the bore 33, whatever this may be in a given instance.

In operation, the device as described stands on the supports 25 and 30 in a tank 40 containing a body ll of the sixteen per cent (16%) hydrochloric acid gas in water solution. The tank is of any material suitable for the particular liquid in hand, in this case, for example, of acid proof stoneware. The parts are so proportioned and arranged that the body 20 is horizontal and the pipe 39 vertical and dipping its lower end below the surface of the liquid body M. A wire 42 to be cleaned is passed, by means not shown, from left to right, through the passageway comprised of the bore 28, chamber 29, chamber 2|, orifice 22, chamber 23, bore 33 and bore 34; and the valve 3'l is opened.

The injector arrangement sucks cleansing liquid up through the pipe 39 into the annular conical chamber around the nozzle 38 and drives the mixture of air and liquid at high velocity through the annular space between the wire 42 and the wall of aperture 22, thus scrubbing the wire thoroughly. The air-liquid mixture has the liquid thoroughly dispersed in'the air at the same time,

and expandsalong'the chamber 24. As it expands the mixture'loses speed and is forced'relati'vely slowly .into the chamber 23 and thence into the open air'nnderthebody 20 and overthe liquid supply 41 in the tank 40. Inbeingthus .slowed down, the moving air loses itsrcapacity to carry, its burden of atomized liquid, and the major part of this finally rains down into the tank Ml 'to be used again. It seems to be the case that inthe annular chamber between the nozzle .38 and the wall of the chamber 23, the air becomes charged,

21 and the nozzle 38, the chemical effect of the liquid thus deposited on the wire takes effect. The length of the chamber 2| is proportioned to the speed of the wire and both to the circumstances of the particular case so that the dissolving effect of the liquid will be adequate to remove or suitably loosen dirt, grease or metal dust from the surface of the wire, but will not be severe enough to materially affect the substance of the wire itself. In coming to and passing through igre aperture 22, the wire is subjected to the relatively severe mechanical scrubbing effect already described. Here the loosened contaminations and contaminated liquid adherent to the wire are practically completely removed by this scrubbing with clean air and relatively large droplets of clean liquid; and the wire thus cleaned enters the bore 33, carrying only a film of clean liquid on its cleansed surface. Between its entrance into the nozzle 38 and its passage of the point where the pipe 36 delivers airinto the bore 33, the wet but otherwise clean wire is subjected to a counter-current blast of clean, dry air which removes the adherent liquid completely, so that the wire emerges from the right end of the bore 34 completely clean and dry. It seems that, in

the case of water solutions at least, this action is tartaric acid, it would tend to be removed with the mechanically removed liquid water and not left behind on the wire by the evaporatively removed water vapor. In some cases this feature of the invention may be highly important.

The particular embodiment selected to illustrate the invention is a method and an apparatus for cleaning copper wire with a hydrochloric acid water solution. The invention is not so narrowly limited, but appears to be applicable wherever it is "desired to treat a strand by applying a liquid thereto and then removing a part or all of the applied liquid from the strand. Thus, if a textile strand is to be stained, the bath in the tank 40 might be a liquid solution of the staining agent. Then, on running the absorbent textile strand through the apparatus, it would be saturated with 1 the solutionin the chamber 2| and have the excess solution removed in the bore 33, emerging from the bore carrying a uniform charge of the colored moisture.

In some instances also it mightbe desirable to use'a -non-oxidizingor inert gas instead of air, in which case the pipe "36 would'be connected through the value 31 to some suitable source of the gas in question-under pressure. The inven- -tion is clearly not conditioned by the nature of the strand 42 or the nature of the gaseous fluid with relatively gross droplets of the'li'quid. In

passing through the orifice2-2 and in being ex-i panded in the chamber 2!, these droplets are broken up and dispersed in the air iii-what is ordinarily called an atomized mist, which again condenses into ,gross droplets and rain in the chamber 29 or upon emerging. therefrom into the;

open.

The wire 42 entering through the plug 21, encounters first in the chamber 2i a'precipitating mist of the atomized corrosive cleaning'llquid and is thoroughly wetted by this. Between the plug supplied through the pipe 36 or the nature of the liquid in the tank 140,;but' 'is applicable wherever it is desired to treat a'strand by applying a'liquid thereto-and subsequently removing all or a part of the liquid therefrom.

The embodiment herein disclosed is illustrative 'and may be variously modified and departed from without departing-from the spirit and scope of the invention as described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

What is claimed is 1. The method of treating with a liquid a longitudinally advancing strand which method comprises steps of creating a single blast of dry gaseous fluid countercurrent to and confining the same to move closely along the advancing strand, and charging the said single blast with droplets of liquid after the blast has passed along the.

strand over a predetermined portion of the path of the strand while continuing to confine the blast to the neighborhood or the strand.

2. The method 01' treating with a liquid a longitudinally advancing strand which method comprises steps of creating a single blast of dry 8 ous fiuid countercurrent to and confining the same to move closely along the advancing strand, and charging the said single blast by injector action of the blast with droplets of liquid after the blast has passed along the strand over a predetermined portion of the path of the strand while continuing to confine the blast to the neighborhood of the strand,

3. The method oi treating with a liquid a longitudinally advancing strand which method comprises steps oi. creating a single blast of dry gaseous fiuid countercurrent to and confining the same to move closely along the advancing strand. charging the said single blast with droplets of liquid after the blast has passed along the strand over a predetermined portion of the path of the strand while continuing to confine the blast to the neighborhood oi the strand, and dispersing the droplets oi the liquid in the blast to mist while releasing the confinement of the blast around the strand after the droplet charged blast has passed along the strand over a second predetermined portion 01 the path of the strand.

4. The method of treating with a liquid a longitudinally advancing strand which method comprises steps of creating a single blast of dry gaseous fiuid countercurrent to and confining the same to move closely along the advancing strand. charging the said single blast by injector action or the blast with droplets of liquid after the blast has passed along the'strand over a predetermined portion or the path of the strand while continuing to confine the blast to the neighborhood of the strand, and dispersing the droplets of the liquid in the blast to mist while releasing the confinement of the blast around the strand after the droplet charged blast haspassed along the strand over a second predetermined portion of the path of the strand. 7

5. The method of treating with a liquida longitudinally advancing strand which method comprises steps 01' creating a single blast of gaseous fluid countercurrent to and confining the same to move closely along the advancing strand, charging the said single blast with droplets of liquid after the blast has passed along the strand over a predetermined portion of the path oi'the strand, dispersing the droplets of liquid in the single blast to a mist in contact with the strand. and gradually expanding the blast of mist over another predetermined portion 01' the path of the strand.

AXEL C. NYSTROM.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

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